2013.05.25 - Blood in the Water
No more than ten minutes ago -- probably less, in fact -- shots rang out near the harbour. An innocent man went down, a bullet in his gut. On her way home from the Red Rover, Amanda was first on the scene with any sort of first aid training. Without her usual satchel or her cell phone, she didn't have much on hand to stabilize him. The best she could do was wad her sweater under his head and try to staunch the bleeding while fleeing passersby called for the police and ambulance. She had thought everything was going to be okay, when Kurt showed up at her side, offering to help. She shouldn't have dismissed the missing stench of brimstone so quickly. Because 'Kurt' was actually Mystique. And Mystique is nothing if not creatively vindictive. It was only after 'Kurt's' tail lanced through the core of her body, that she understood the Indigo Elf beside her was actually a Bitch Demon out for blood. Her blood. Mystique used her facsimile of Kurt's tail to toss Amanda's broken body a quarter-mile away, over the quays and the boats, to splash unceremoniously down into the dark, choppy water of the windy bay. Her last coherent thought is the whisper of a spellword that is her last, desperate attempt to help herself, to help someone find her before it's simply too late. In the distance, back on the street beyond the marina, another final shot rings out. Certainly, it's too late for at least one person... Food. Oh the -food- that was had... It was almost good enough to make up for the fact that TJ got ripped out of her own reality one more time, seemingly for good. She nearly ate herself stupid then passed out for quite some amount of time, exhaustion finally taking its toll. Unfortunately she couldn't admit to having had the best of evenings. Thoughts of the Hell that she had been dropped into and, fortunately, left far behind, run through her mind, continuing to torment the dimensionally misplaced mutant for a few more hours. She's not that restless of a sleeper, giving no indication that anything is the matter. She even sleeps through the first round of pistol fire. At best they clear some of the inky dark fog that shrouds her nightmares, allowing for one tiny instant of clarity. That point within the natural sleep cycle where the mind is the most receptive to outside signals. Amanda's one final word isn't missed. The last shot to sound out has TJ coming to with a start, yellow eyes snapping open wide as a stifled gasp rushes to the back of her throat. By the time she realizes where she is, she's hanging from the low ceiling. "Something's not right." She'll be saying those words quite a lot in the days to come. Kurt's on his boat. In heaven.. given the fact that so much has happened, and the good truly does seem to be overshadowing the not-so-much. With each passing minute, hour.. the events in Hell and before are departing his immediate thoughts, and considerations for the future have once again taken hold. Amanda's gone home, leaving Kurt with the daughter he actually knew he had- in another dimension. In another life. And he's fine with that. No immediate plans of settling down in order to begin raising a family.. Perched upon the stern of the Red Rover, his tail sways back and forth as the ships begin to enter the harbour for the Memorial Day celebrations. He's got a good slip to see the really big ships, and some truly amazing galleons.. The gun reports brings Kurt's attention around, but more than that.. the hair on the back of his neck rises. This.. this is something he recognizes as a marker.. the distinct feel of a woman whom he adores more than life itself. Rising from his spot, glowing yellow eyes look back to TJ, and that bit of peaceful contemplation is gone, to be replaced with a good bit of concern. Gunfire. Magic.. and not just any magic. Gunfire. "Mein Gott.. Leibchen.. I'll be right back- You stay--" No worries, however.. there is no possible way Kurt will let his daughter out of his sight for very long. *BAMF* Kurt sits above the docks, some rapidfire *bamfs* to keep him in the air with the absence of anything to cling to.. but the homing device of magic.. and he looks out onto the water. Give me one more, leibling.. just one more.. In the water, Amanda's head breaks the surface, tossed by a wave that causes her to sputter -- which you'd think would be a good thing, save for the spasming it brings, and thus the extra push of blood through a severed artery. She doesn't want to drown. She doesn't want to bleed out. But, already, the shock is such, the cold of the water such, that her limbs feel heavy and disconnected. And her back and gut are on fire. It's hard, so hard, to push away both the panic and the unbidden despair. Choking on water, she inhales a broken breath and tries to cough out a levitation spell, anything to get her out of the water and towards the boats she sees bobbing so close... and yet so far away. The spell does little more than keep her head above the wave the next time one hits. But that clears her lungs just enough that, eyes closed with painful conscentration, she is able to make her plea to the universe for aid just one more time. And her magic flares again. 'You stay.' "But--" *BAMF* TJ quickly sighs, left alone on the boat with a fading puff of smoke. "This is gonna get old fast." Still, there's a difference between 'stay on the boat' and 'don't move at all.' It takes her little time to rush out onto the deck, then right on up the main mast, all five limbs taking hold against what would otherwise be a precarious perch as she searches the calm waters with eyes still a few degrees wider than the norm. "I heard you, but what are you... Where am I looking?" For TJ, her moments of listening are through. Now that she's awake and listening without anything to help boost the signal it's going to take something much more substantial to get her attention. It's like a small beacon of light.. it is, as it dances upon the surface of water. Glowing yellow eyes that some may describe as infernal search, but now, it's more by feel than sight, and the moment he feels that flicker up his spine, he's off again, his soft *bamfs* opening and closing the portals to that realm as he hurries. Amanda's magic, he's felt it all his life, one way or another.. and this.. it feels too soft, too.. flickering. In the next second, Kurt is there, just above the waves, and looking down, allows himself to splash in the water as he catches the strands of blonde hair upon the waves. Reaching out for her, he makes to hold her head above the water.. and in that next breath, they're both out of the water, and onto the Red Rover. "Leibling.. leibling.. what.." Blood. "Mein Gott.." Amanda coughs again, whimpering, as another wave splashes over her. Then, there's the familiar *BAMF* and the stink -- the beautiful stink! -- of sulfur. Arms surround her, support her, block the waves enough for her to choke out, "Sulfur... yes... Kurt..." There's pain in her blue eyes and they're unfocussed and glassy as she tries to maintain consciousness, tries to focus on him. "Mystique... You... Uhnnnn..." It hurts to much and her mind is rebelling at everything she's seen in the past several minutes. Her eyes close tightly and she turns her face away, a deathmask of pain. Sulfur, ho! With the telltale sound of the other WonderBlue returning to port TJ rolls backward, catches the mast, and runs down it like a squirrel would run down the trunk of a tree. "Her--Aman--she's--oh, hell." This is bad. This is really, really bad. "First aid, contacts, any--?" she starts in before catching herself once more. Kurt's a -teleporter,- if he needs anything he'll have it in approximately .72 seconds. What's left that she can do? "I'm gonna get an ambulance." "Leibling.. leib.. mein Herz.." Kurt looks into her eyes, those blue eyes that look as if they are leaving him, and he gently picks Amanda up once again, and reaching out to wrap his tail about his daughter, it's a quick "Come with!" before... *BAMF!* "Hospital, leibling.. hold on.. please.." In Mutant Town. The moment they arrive, they disappear once more, only to land in the middle of the Emergency Room.. not the waiting room.. but the ER. "Help me!" Kurt calls out even as doctors and nurses stare at the newly arrived. "Please.." And as the sulfur and smoke clear, the woman in the blue demon's arms can be seen to be in very bad condition. She's soaked, hair and clothing plastered to her skin, fair skin white as a sheet from blood loss. What's more, out of the water, blood now flows from her back, where the bladed tail entered and ripped out of her. Her blouse is ripped and the wound is rough and jagged in a way that will certainly leave a scar -- unless or until it's magicked away. Providing someone can do something to buy her enough time to heal, naturally. Of course, Amanda's soaked and pasty appearance and Kurt's wild and panicked expression aside, the blood dripping onto the floor is enough to get the medical staff moving to do something. Thank God it's Mutant Town. If anything, Amanda is the most remarkable of the trio simply because she isn't blue and possessed of a tail... Some kids get piggyback rides on the shoulders of their parents while growing up. TJ? She got to hop onto the Bamf Express. There's little out there which is more cool than a free teleport ride. Hop on, snap fingers, bamf! Somewhere else. In this case it's somewhere quite a few miles out, though she isn't sure on the specifics. All she knows is that they're in an emergency room. "Hey, is this the impalement and hypothermia ward?" Nothing..? Anyone? *ahem* "Well don't just stand there, she's gonna die!" Sheesh, could I get them any more motivated by possessing one of them? Her involvement still remains sidelined, but that's alright. In a moment the professionals are going to take over, these two are going to get escorted out by security, and she'll be there to comfort her closest piece of family. That is something which she can do. She's pretty good at it, too. Kurt puts Amanda on the gurney, but he's not willing to leave her side.. not even when the nurses notice the blood and all hell breaks loose on the floor. (And Kurt should recognize that! As should TJ!) There isn't a lot of room for him at her side, however.. and when the nurse with the clipboard comes to begin taking information, the elf keeps looking towards Amanda, now hidden by the medicos before his attention is pulled back. TJ.. now, in the absence of Domino, he's got TJ. And his heart isn't closed to the potentials there for a relationship with a daughter that isn't his.. but is. He would hope that other Kurts in other dimensions would do the same for his.. should he ever have kids. The comment regarding impalement and hypothermia ward, however, gets something that looks a whole lot like a disapproving look. "TJ.." but that doesn't stop him from reaching out for her, to hold her close.. for him more than for her.. but nothing says that comfort has to be for the same thing. And, Kurt will give the important information before they're led out to chairs as the doctors seek to stabilize enough to bring Amanda in to surgery. "Mystique," Kurt murmurs to TJ. "Mother.. she said." Amanda is whisked away into surgery fairly quickly, but it will doubtlessly be at least a couple of hours before anything further is known. Mystique did as thorough a job as one would expect of a woman of her caliber and skills. And it's inevitable, that as the surgery progress, eventually someone will come to grill Kurt about what happened. It's even possible a police officer may eventually be called to take a statement, for all that there is little to nothing the Elf and his daughter can tell them. TJ's shoulders hang slightly. Her next comment is lacking any of her former energy, mostly out of guilt. "Doing what I can here, dad." Still, her tail finds him in return. Like a couple of creeper vines on an old wooden gate. "Definitely no mother of mine. We should probably try to keep the two of us as far apart as possible, I mean if this ends up happening out of friendship..?" The thought is finished with a quick shake of her head. She didn't want to know any sooner than she wanted to find out. It's some time later that golden eyes seek out golden eyes, asking "She's a witch, isn't she? Isn't there something more that could be done for her? Getting surgery seems kinda ..I don't know. Oldschool?" "Nein.. your grandmother. My mother.." Kurt murmurs. "I don't know if I ever mentioned her, but she's.. " Something of a psycho? Kurt didn't think she was too far gone until she attacked someone he loves more than life itself. His tail is entwined, and Kurt shakes his head. "This is not something that happens.. "What did you say?" Kurt looks beside him, directly at the almost mirror image of himself, yellow, pupilless eyes blinking. "Oldschool?" There is a moment before a smile begins to creep across his face in spite of that which lies before him, and Amanda.. and he nods his head once, "You are right, leibchen.. you are very right.." *BAMF* (Police report be damned?) The pair land in Amanda's apartment, and the moment they arrive, Kurt is on the move through the very familiar rooms. "She told me if anything happened.." and he wanders into the master bedroom.. "She has.. a-ha!" and under the bed, a valise. Not going through her drawers.. this time. *ahem* It's also fortunate, as TJ's presence inevitably trips Amanda's wards, that Kurt is a known and trusted presence -- and able to prevent the things from firing off anything unfriendly. Thus, in the bedroom, under the bed, inside that valise can be found a small wooden box, marked with healing runes. It's Amanda's version of a first aid kit, but is oh-so-very much better. Of course, the small vials and herbs held within have their limits. So, she won't be magically up and running the very next day. But, a single dose should keep her away from death's door. And a matching dose over the next two or three days should eventually put her back on her feet again... if they're not already too late, of course. Nightcrawler has partially disconnected. And a fifty percent infernal bulb brightens. So long, hospital! "Yeah, I know the name. See..well, when I got all 'unstuck from time' and all that, I was given a scenario that would come to pass if I didn't fix things within the fabric of other realities--it's pretty convoluted. Point is, if I didn't, you would have died by that same woman in my reality. Of course, that shouldn't be happening because I paid my dues, but I guess..I may not know how that turns out." TJ is still a Wagner. She's cursed with living in Interesting Times. She could just cry from the pun that comes to mind there. Hark, Kurt's onto something! It doesn't mean a thing to her, but if it does the trick? "That's it, huh? I'll go ahead and mark one down for Team Blue." Ready for Bamfus Recallus! "Is that what is happening to you?" Kurt pauses, his shoulders slouching even more as he returns to his daughter's side, ready to pull her into a hug. "Und you, being who you are, figured that you could save me, us..." He takes a deep breath and leans to give TJ a kiss on the cheek. "I am proud of you, leibchen," he says softly, his tones genuine. "It doesn't mean, however, that you won't be grounded until you're 50 when you get home." There's a smile there.. really there is! "Hang on.." Kurt has the case with him, and he's clutching it as if hell itself couldn't separate him and it. "We're going back.. Und if she's not out of surgery, we're going in.. ja?" *BAMF* Repairing an artery by itself is difficult work, let alone taking care of the ripped and jagged flesh all around it. Amanda's body has suffered real trauma and, as skilled as the surgeons are, they're still only human -- even if they're mutants. She's stable, in the OR on the table. Or, at least, she's as stable as she can be given all she's been through. She's still frozen, mind you, since they've packed her in ice to slow down the blood loss and delay tissue and nerve death. So, yes. Team Blue is crashing the OR party. "That's what happened to me," TJ tries to explain, though she's a bit at a loss. "I thought I was done with it. I should have been. For a while it looked like I was in the clear, then something..." "I might have gotten a little upset at the news." When she looks back to her 'father' it's with a thin smile. "I did what I thought I had to. It's nothing complicated." Besides, you put me through the wringer in the Danger Room more times than I'd care to remember, I -should- be up to the challenge by now. "You say that like he hasn't already tried," she kids back, leaning sidelong against the other Neyaphem-inclined mutant. "Let's go, she needs whatever help we can provide." Bamf! "Uh--hi again," TJ greets the OR crew with an impish, dainty-fanged grin and a spread of a three-fingered hand. "Just passing through, honest." Kurt offers TJ that we'll speak later about that bit when she comes up to the I might have gotten a little upset at the news comment. Particularly in that he knows how he used to handle disappointment at her age. Oh yeah.. he was never her age, even if he's only the ripe age of 26 or so.. "There is nothing about our family that isn't complicated, leibchen," is offered softly. *BAMF* And there, in the middle of the OR appears two be-tailed, be-fanged fuzzy, blue.. creatures. "I'm here to help.." Before anyone can get a word out, as the blue bamfer is just quick that way, Kurt opens the valise, grabs a phial, and passes the box over to TJ. "Hold that please," before he's gone again in that sulfurous *bamf*, only to land beside the table. "Dies wird nicht einfach sein, leibling.." This will not be easy, my love.. and before he can be stopped, he unstoppers the phial and places it to her lips to drink.. or at least the goal is to not have her drown in the stuff! Made even harder by the tubes and life-support machinery he must remove before he starts to pour the potion down the blonde woman's throat. But, even if he is not as gentle as he might otherwise be in his haste, it's not like Amanda is really feeling much of anything, right now. Indeed... TJ might see, or perhaps just sense, the woman's astral form -- her spirit -- hovering nearby. (Involuntary out-of-body experiences are much more common for those close to death, after all.) "Hey!" the lead surgeon says as Nightcrawler intrudes. "You can't--" "Wait!" his colleague chimes in, laying her hand on his arm before he interferes. She's looking at TJ, who holds the box with the healing runes on it. "I know those symbols," she tells him. "They're healing symbols." Only in a mutant hospital would anything like this possibly be allowed. Still, it's possible to slip an arm under Amanda's neck, tilting her head back, forcing her to swallow reflexively. She coughs, choking on the first drops. But they soothe the way for the rest. As the magic slowly suffuses her being, the output on the medical monitors changes. The artery knits back together, the internal bleeding slowing and finally stopping as the ragged flesh pulls together and binds. Her heartbeat improves and, if she's not out of the woods, yet, she's at least no longer at death's door. Seriously injured, still? Yes. But, no longer critical. The medical staff boggle. "I--" the head surgeon stares that the blue creature balanced over his patient on the table. "What sort of medicine is that? Do you know what that can do in our ER? Is there more?" He turns toward TJ and the box... Yeah... Talk more about it later. Does TJ really want to relive that memory, though? There's time for her to mull it over. "There's an understatement for the ages." Within the OR proper she takes the box when it's passed her way. "Check!" Once more with the rotten eggs and she's once more standing around hospital workers. "So... Some nice weather you guys have in this dimension." Her face shifts into a slightly goofy look, gently nodding a few times to her own observation. A moment later and one of the guys gets singled out by her gaze. "Is your name Carl? You look like a Carl to me." Sheesh, tough crowd. "Hey, would ya look at that..." she gently observes while Amanda's vitals improve. It's got that thin (and now hopeful!) smile back in place. "You go, girl." When mention is made to the concoction that was employed, and the box which she happens to be hanging onto, she wraps her arms around it in a slightly more possessive way. "Sorry guy, not my secrets to share. Get her better first then sling that question her way. We're just playing Occult Delivery Services tonight." Only in a mutant hospital. It is true. Kurt could make a list of everything a mutant hospital is better at than regular hospitals, right down to the recognition of healing runes, but that truly isn't his concern at this very moment. What is is the blonde that he's got in his arms, propping, holding the bottle for her. "Drink, leibling.." he whispers softly. "Ja.." As the monitors begin their change of beat, Kurt looks relieved, to say the least. His tail begins to sway gently, and he's reluctant to let her go now that he's close again. "Ja.. perfect.." He does, however, step away.. and casts a yellow-eyed glance back at his daughter, the relief etched in that blue, fuzzy face of his. "Ja.. would you look at that.." Another step back is taken, and Kurt is beside TJ again, his tail seeking the fatherly contact, very much as a non-tailed mutant would offer a hand. "It is not ours, I'm sorry fraulein. But, when she wakes, I'm certain she may share." -May- share. A chuckle actually sounds from him next, and he looks to TJ, his brows rising, "Occult Delivery Services"? Mein Gott, TJ..." and he shakes his head. Sounds like someone he knows! As Amanda's body recovers, her spirit -- her soul -- slowly settles back within its confines. Her blue eyes, not nearly so pain-filled as they were -- though it lingers some, flutter open and her head rolls just a little to where the blue pair now stands. She focuses on them, for just a heartbeat. Not long. But, perhaps long enough. As they flutter closed again, her body seems to relax and she slips back into a medicated sleep. The head surgeon looks between Amanda and the box and back again. "My god," he says, shaking his head. "I've seen a lot of remarkable things in this place, but that..." Again, he shakes his head. "Doctor?" his colleague asks now, looking up at him expectantly as the medtechs and nurses also await instruction, monitoring their patient. He throws up his hands. "Alright. Put her in the ICU, for now. Check her vitals regularly and..." Again, he looks between Kurt and his patient, "we'll see how it goes overnight." TJ is right there for Kurt when he returns. Being a little on the clingy side is par for the course. Wagners. Tails. An ability to do an inverted hand-stand from nearly any surface the planet has to throw at them. They just adhere. All 'stuck on you,' as it might be. A silly grin comes to bear, rolling her shoulders. It's a good time for her to repeat an earlier comment, "I work with what I've got." With that out of the way, she asks, "Do you think we should take our exit bamf here? She's gonna need some hardcore rest. Maybe we can draw a bath for her out of whatever was in that phial for her welcome back party." Clingy isn't a bad thing. Not after something a little traumatic, like having one's mother try and kill one's foster sister and erstwhile.. anyfriend. And there isn't a thing there that any parent couldn't recognize in themselves. It's a matter of, Thank God it's not you there and believing all is right with the world. Kurt is out of the way as the medicos begin their procedures to move Amanda into the ICU, and he lifts a hand to touch the new cross that hangs about his neck. "I think I'll be going to the church first to light a candle, leibchen.. you can join me, und then back to sit?" He offers a smile, a light chuckle as he looks to the almost mirror image of himself. "I would rather you not be alone, so if you would accompany me? Humour me this once, ja?" The medicos are efficient in their work. And all of them will be talking for nights to come about just how touch and go their latest miracle patient was, thanks to the 'healing factor in a bottle' the blue demon brought. And, unsurprisingly, some of them are more than little impatient that they didn't even obtain the empty phial so they to analyse the contents -- not that it would help them, anyway. There's nothing about the contents, scientifically speaking, that should produce results quite so miraculous as that. Nevertheless, Amanda is tucked away in a private room in the ICU ward, neat as you please, with little fuss and a long night of observation ahead. TJ might not be quite as religious as Kurt, though she's had to put up with similar matters plenty of times back home. She's worn the cross on occasion, herself. Humoring the otherworld version of her father isn't any big sacrifice. It's not even a little one. "I'd rather not be alone, either." After the crazy warp into Hell, being hunted for a good long while, the resulting nightmares... No, she'd really prefer to be around someone that she feels she can trust. Amanda is given a warm smile and a wave in parting, whether she happens to see it or not, before these two head out mutant-style. "Just..tell me one thing? This isn't how things normally are with you two, is it?" Stepping away for the briefest of moments, Kurt gives Amanda a gentle, lingering kiss before she's wheeled away into ICU. "I'll be there soon, leibling," is whispered before he rejoins TJ. He happily wraps his tail around his daughter, and nods solemnly at her words. "Good. Then we'll light a candle for you, too. Und pray to the Blessed Mother for your safe return home. Or, if She decides that you'll be with us, then we'll pray that she keeps you safe here. Because," and he's ready for that final *bamf* to St. Patrick's, "No.. things are normally much better.. "Or do you mean between me und my mother? That, leibchen, will require no small amount of explaining. Und for that? We'll need a bit more time." *BAMF* Category:Log